Felted box-toe stock and method of making the same



ficiently absorbent to foranimal hair to give requisites while rags (mixed wool) or a mixture of such rags and wool 40 etable Reiaued Nov 9,1926.

Various substitutes have been proposed for the expensive wool felt used in box toe stock in the effort to produce a low-cost, .durable box toe material which will be suftake up and retain the which will possess thermo-plastic binder,

to hold its shape suflicient tensile strength under the severe strains in lasting the shoe,

and which will not only have capacity for lo stretch to assume the shape of the toe but will be sufliciently resilient to return to shape after coinpression. Felt containing hair has been proposed, but so far as I am. ad- .vised, nothing has been found as a substitute the required strength to such box toe stock. The cost of hairis, however, very high and makes factory material sometimes hard to obtain. Hair is furthermore .difiicult to work'in the stock and run on a cylinder felting machine.

To the end, therefore, of producing a box' toe stock which. will embody the foregoing entirely avoiding the use of hair and wool felt, I have devised my pres- 26 ent invention. According 'to, it, I take a short fibered stock, 'such as waste textile rags containing more or less or other fibres, andtbeat it out until smooth.

so To this I add relatively long vegetable fibres,

such as cotton, rayon, ute, manila, hemp, or sisal, and then smoothrout the mixture wit out cutting the long vegetable fibres.

I obtain the vegetable fibres from usual sources, and they are preferably loosely fiberized before incorporation into the mix.

The mix is beaten out in a beater and run on a cylinder felting machine. I thus obtain a water-laid felt in which theolong vegfibres are uniformly distributed throughout the body of short fibres and in felted relation therewith. Where the felt is used for box toes it is impregnated when dry with a thermo-plastic binder, such as a mix- 5 ture of hardened rosin and oil-blown asphalt,

by dipping the felt material into .a fluid bath containing the thermo-plastic compound.

By using vegetable fibres, insteadtof animal hair, as has been proposed heretofore, I

obtain a mix which not only felts better, but

is stronger and can be more easily moulded on a last. It is common knowledge that animal hair of itself does not felt, as this term is used in referring to the forming of j Re. 16,465 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

I HENRY PHILIP SHOPNECK, OF DSRCHESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO JOHN J.

DALY, OF WEST NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

FELTED BOX-TOE STOCK AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

Io Drawing. Original No. 1,574,208, dated February 23-, 1926, Serial No. 47,371, filed July 31, 1925.

- Application for reissue filed July 21, 1926. Serial stock into sheets by means of a cylinder felting machine, whereas jute has a felting action. A satisfactory using a furnish consisting of approximately 30% jutelbr other relatively long vegetable fibre and 70% rag, wool or other fibrous stock.

If desired, I may increase the proportion of vegetable fibre to the rag or wool fibres while retaining all the advantages of increased tensile strength, by substituting for aportion of the rag stock, an equivalent portion of asbestos or other fibres, a characteristic mix consisting of approximately, 50% rag or wool stock, 30% vegetable fibres, and 20% asbestos. what is meant by long vegetable fibres are either the elongated plant fibres composed mainly of cellulose, substantially free of lignin, such as cotton, linen, or the like, or

the elongated fibres composed of a plurality of bundles of fibres which owe their adhesion to the encrusting effect of the ligneou's constituents on the intercellular substances, such as jute, hemp, sisal, ramie, et cetera. This term also includes such long artificial vegetable fibres as rayon, viscose, and like artificial threads. It is also to be understood that what is meant by the terms fibrous stock and body of short felted fibre, is a base of cotton, textile'rags, wool, or asbestos, or similar fibres, with or withoutinert filler, or suitable mixtures of them.

These and various other modifications in materials and proportions, coming within the spirit and scope of my invention as defined by the appended claims, may obviously be resorted to.

What I therefore claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A felt, consisting of a fibrous stock, and relatively longer vegetable fibres and ashestos distributed throughout the mass in felted relation therewith and capable of being im-- pregnated with, a thermo-plastic binder.

2. A felt, "consisting of a fibrous stock, and relativelylonger jute fibres and asbestos -distributed throughout the mass in felted relation therewith and capable of being impregnated with a thermo-plastic binder.

felt' is obtained by Itis to be understood thatj nated with a thermdlastic hinder, the proimpregnating said sheet with athermp-plas- 10 ortionof vegetable bres and asbestos each tlc binder, being submmtially less than that of the 5. A boxtoemateriahcomprismgafibrons fibrous stock. stock and relatiyely longer v etable fibres 5 a 4. The 'inethod of making a'felted stock, and asbestos distributed throng outthe mass which consists in forming a sheet from a in felted relation and impregnated with 112 1 beaten fibrous stock to which has been added theme-plastic binder relative] l0 vegetable fibres of the class bed an descri j asbestos, :andin s bse uentl HENRY :PHILIP SHO NECK, 

